Chapter 82

Lumen Pavilion is located more than thirty miles east of Suiyang, the capital of the State of Liang. The terrain is very simple, with a small road running north to south, flanked by large tracts of newly abandoned land, some thorny bushes, shrubs, and a few sparse groves of trees. Logically, this place is not suitable for an ambush, so although Shi Xun had raised his vigilance, he did not send out scouts to this area—besides, he had no scouts; the only horse in his entire unit was the one he was riding, and the rest were all infantry.

So when the drumbeats sounded and the large banner with the character "Yuan" was revealed, he was so startled that he almost fell off his horse. Looking around, he saw countless warhorses charging out of the woods one after another. He initially didn't believe it—how could there be Yuan's troops in the rear? But then he saw that they were all cavalry. He realized that these were the raiding cavalry of Yuan Shu, harassing Cao Cao's rear. Even a dozen of these elite soldiers would be enough to crush his over a hundred infantry. Moreover, the enemy's numbers were not less than his own!

The first thought that came to his mind was: "We're doomed, the supplies can't be saved." The second thought was: "If the supplies can't be saved, so be it. Whether I can save my own life is still questionable. Who has the heart to worry about the supplies!" At that moment, a surge of courage rose from his chest, spreading to his limbs. He steadied himself in the saddle and shouted angrily, "Run!" He turned his horse and galloped back the way he came.

Behind him, he heard the sounds of battle cries—those were the enemy soldiers—and the cries of pain and pleas for mercy—those were his own troops and the unfortunate civilian laborers. Shi Xun didn't even look back, just hunched over the saddle and spurred his horse to run as fast as he could. But after a while, something was wrong. He should have been far from the enemy by now, so why were the hoofbeats still so loud?

He mustered his courage, barely kept his feet on the stirrups, and twisted his waist to glance back. What he saw made his heart leap with fear. He saw an enemy general riding a tall horse, still in hot pursuit. Shi Xun thought to himself, "You just want to raid the supplies, why are you chasing me? This isn't the battlefield; this is our rear. For you, it's enemy territory. Why are you so reckless? Aren't you afraid of putting yourself in danger?"

He had only glanced back for a moment, but the enemy general's appearance was etched into his mind like a photograph. When he refocused and steadied himself, he realized that the pursuer was a young general, probably around his age, though he already had a fair amount of facial hair. The general wore an iron helmet and the most advanced fish-scale armor of the time, but without sleeves for better mobility. Unlike Shi Xun's red and black leather armor, the general's armor was red and white, slightly less heavy but gleaming in the sunlight, exuding a formidable presence. He had no plume on his helmet but a large red tassel, and a red cape on his shoulders that fluttered in the wind. He rode a yellow horse and wielded a long iron halberd...

"Damn, he's a major general!" But why would a major general of Yuan Shu lead hundreds of raiders to our rear? Or is he just a lower-ranking officer with enough money for good equipment? No matter how he looked, his own attire was far inferior to the general's. Why is he chasing me so desperately?

In this convoy, only he was dressed the most decently and the only one on horseback. Anyone could tell he was the leader—of a hundred or so soldiers. Even if they cut off his head, what great merit would it be? Are you out of your mind? Why are you chasing me? Is there some misunderstanding...

Shi Xun was so scared that he almost cried. He cursed the heavens and all its female relatives (if they existed). The hoofbeats from behind grew louder and closer—his horse was clearly inferior to the enemy's. Shi Xun gritted his teeth and shouted angrily, "Come on, come on, if you have the guts to kill me, go ahead! If you can't kill me this time, I..."

As he was thinking about what he could do to the heavens, he suddenly saw the terrain ahead and screamed, "Damn, you're really ruthless, are you serious?!"

Shi Xun was running for his life and had already deviated from the small road. But because he had scouted the area on the way there, he knew that not far ahead, there was a huge ditch running east to west! He didn't know who dug it or why, but he knew it was at least two miles long, and from the road, he couldn't see either end. It was probably a remnant of an irrigation channel or a trench dug to defend against an enemy. The road connecting the north and south was poorly constructed, narrow, and full of potholes, causing the supply wagons to delay for a while—otherwise, he wouldn't have remembered the ditch so vividly.

He remembered that the ditch was nearly three meters deep and more than ten meters wide. He estimated that an ordinary horse couldn't jump over it without a running start—and even with a running start, how far could a horse jump? Shi Xun had never properly tested his horse's jumping ability, but his instinct told him one word: "Impossible!"

Time seemed to slow down as his thoughts flashed through his mind like lightning, then vanished. He couldn't let his horse reach the edge of the ditch, so he needed to stop... no, he needed to rein in the horse. But he couldn't stop; an enemy general was still chasing him. If he slowed down, he would definitely be caught, and the halberd in the general's hand was terrifying...

At this critical moment, countless heroic figures flashed through Shi Xun's mind: Liu Bei leaping over the Tanxi Creek, Sun Quan leaping over the Xiaoshi Bridge, Yang Zaixing failing to leap over the Xiaoshang River... Ah, the last one didn't make it and died! If he stopped, he would die; if he didn't jump, he would die; if he jumped, he might survive... What else could he do? He had to jump!

As the horse approached the ditch, Shi Xun squeezed the horse's sides with his legs, held the bow in his left hand, and struck the horse's hindquarters with the bow arm, shouting, "Dilu, Dilu, today you hinder me!" As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized it was a bad omen... although Liu Bei did jump over the Tanxi Creek after saying that, the words themselves were very inauspicious.

The horse, in pain, neighed loudly, reared up, and leaped... into the ditch...

Actually, Shi Xun's horse jumped quite far, just a few centimeters short of reaching the other side. Fortunately, it didn't land, or it would have flipped over and crushed Shi Xun, and the combined weight would have been fatal.

The horse fell straight to the bottom of the ditch, letting out a terrible scream and landing with a thud, breaking its front legs. Shi Xun, though forced to jump, remained clear-headed and managed to pull his feet out of the stirrups in mid-air. As the horse landed, he did a somersault and rolled more than a meter away. Although he was covered in dirt and in pain, he managed to save his life and seemed to have avoided serious injury.

Having escaped certain death, Shi Xun let out a long sigh, thinking, "My fate is in my hands, not in the heavens. If I hadn't dared to challenge the heavens, I would have died for sure." Looking back, he saw the enemy general had reined in his horse at the edge of the ditch. He was about to mock the general, "If you're so brave, come down and catch me!" when he saw the general hang his halberd on the saddle and draw a bow from the saddle bridge...

"Damn, do we have a blood feud or something?!" Shi Xun was even more terrified, stood up, and ran sideways—his only option was to run in the ditch, as he couldn't climb out.

If he could climb out, the enemy would be blocked by the ditch and couldn't get close, and he could soon escape the range of the arrows. But running sideways, the enemy wasn't a dead man; he lightly kicked his horse's sides and started a trot along the edge of the ditch. The horse trotted, and Shi Xun ran fast, but a man running fast couldn't keep up with a horse trotting. The distance between them was closing. The enemy seemed to be playing cat and mouse—actually, if he shot quickly, Shi Xun would have a hard time dodging, and even if he dodged one arrow, the quiver was full...

Shi Xun didn't know any of this; he just kept his head down and ran, afraid that if he slowed down, he would be caught, and if he looked back, an arrow would pierce his forehead—being hit in the back might leave him alive with the leather armor, but being hit in the face would be fatal!

After running about half a mile, which would be less than 200 meters in two thousand years, he suddenly saw that the ditch ended! Not only did it end, but the end was a steep slope. Shi Xun's heart sank. If it were a sheer drop, he could hide in a corner and shout "Surrender" and might survive. But with a slope, the enemy could easily ride down and skewer him with a halberd!

"Damn, damn, heavens, please forgive my impertinence." Desperate, he stopped, turned around, and thought, "If you shoot now, I'll die quickly. If you haven't shot yet, let's make a deal. I'll surrender and be honest. Please, hero, spare my life!"

At that moment, a familiar voice shouted, "Hongfu, don't be afraid, I'm here to save you!"

——————————I'm begging for support——————————

Who is chasing the protagonist? Who is saving him? Can you guess? If you can't, please throw your recommendations and votes. If you can... since I write so well, you should show your appreciation! Also, don't forget to vote for the Three Rivers!

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